WINDSOR — Thirty years or so ago, Windsor built a new state-of-the-art high school, leaving the old school empty with its famous stage/gym, and it stayed empty for a few years. The town didn’t know what to do with it, and there was a lot of support for tearing the building down.
That’s when the push began for a recreation department for Windsor. That all sounded nice except the part where the estimated price to get all this done was to be around $300,000.
The project needed somebody to get the money ball rolling, and that somebody turned out to be Harry Ladue. For four years of car washes, bake sales and begging, Windsor had a recreation department and Ladue was chosen as its director.
“We never thought it would get done,” Ladue would say later.
Fast-forward 25 years: Ladue, 64, called it a career as recreation director last June. A plan was hatched to name the gym after Ladue, and the word went out that Saturday would be the day. The goal: a surprise announcement, as Ladue would be there like he is every year for the Harry Marden youth tournament.
So much for the secret: About 300 folks, along with Harry and his daughters, Katy and Brodie, packed the facility that will now be known as Harry Ladue Gymnasium on Saturday.
“The best thing this town did was not to bulldoze this building,” said a choked-up Ladue as he accepted a plaque from Windsor’s current recreation director, James Aldrich, a past Ladue co-worker.
Ladue is Windsor-born, raised here, and he played three sports at Windsor High, where he’s 35 years into his tenure as varsity boys basketball coach. As much as he loves coaching Windsor basketball, he also has deep feelings for the people of Windsor and the people who took part in recreational activities.
“I like to interact with people, see them smile,” Ladue said when he retired. “It’s been a great ride.”
Aldrich, who was on Ladue’s 2008 state championship team and was the master of ceremonies for Saturday’s event, praised Windsor as a community “that cares,” as he read off a long list of volunteers that make the recreation department run.
“I don’t know how many people I called about this event, but as I look around they all showed up,” Aldrich noted. “They are all here for Harry.”